Recent Articles

Latinos Twice as Likely to be Food Insecure

Mexico’s NAFTA Generation Faces Morbid Obesity

Immigrants Kids Even Less Active Than U.S.-Born

Low-Carbohydrate Diets Recommended for Hispanics

Read Full Articles

Latinos Twice as Likely to be Food Insecure

This document is taken from the President and CEO of NCLR, Janet Murguia’s presentation to the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry on The Effect of Food Insecurity in the Latino Community.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Hispanic household food insecurity rate (17.9%) is twice as high as the rate for non-Hispanic White households (8.2%), the most food secure.6

In addition, Latino households with children have even higher rates of food insecurity; 21.6% of these households experience food insecurity compared to 11.8% of similar White households. Because of the dearth of resources in many Latino households, their ability to make food purchases is restricted.  While the typical non-Hispanic White U.S. household spends $45 per person each week for food, Hispanic households spend 25% less, just $33 weekly per person.7

A survey in the Journal of Nutrition found that some of the consequences of food insecurity include hunger pangs, fatigue, lack of concentration at school, low work capacity, stress, disrupted household dynamics, and distorted means of food acquisition and management. 9

Respondents to the survey reported depression, increased need for health care, and decreased participation in social activities. 10 Families will go to great lengths to keep their children from going hungry, which is why it is so alarming that many Latino children do not have adequate resources for a nutritious diet. Food insecure children are twice as likely to be in fair or poor health.11

Further, a survey of parents of low-income, young Latino children who are food insecure found that they are two times more likely to note developmental concerns, including risks of developmental delays or disabilities, than households with children who have adequate resources for food.12 Even small cognitive changes can have lasting impacts on a child s education. Even when a child experiences even mild levels of food insecurity, data suggest that school performance and social skills are comprised.13

The coping mechanisms associated within adequate food resources such as overeating when food is available, compromising the quality of food in order to consume higher quantities, and even skipping meals, which causes metabolic shifts can result in a higher propensity for weight gain. While food insecurity persists in the Latino community, there is also a rising trend of obesity. One recent study found that among Latino preschoolers children in the critical stages of growth nearly one-quarter (24.4%) were identified as obese.15

Food insecurity also has a broader impact on society. The increased risk for and severity of sickness and disease that results from food insecurity can create a demand for more physician time, extensive levels of treatment, and greater rates of hospitalization all of which require more money and resources. The health care costs associated with increased illness due to food insecurity not only fall on individuals who suffer from these effects, but ultimately add strain to the entire health care system.

There is also mounting evidence that the overweight and obesity trends in the United States are due, in part, to high levels of food insecurity.14

The educational benefits of participating in government assistance programs include contributing to families achieving a higher level of nutrition. Program participants are more likely than low income nonparticipants to lack confidence about their knowledge of good dietary practices and the quality of their diet. However, they benefit from nutrition education, which promotes consumption of healthier foods, a balanced diet, and physical activity. The results can be seen in the healthier choices they make in grocery stores.17 Further, the education of adult participants is likely to have lasting impact on the younger family members, encouraging children to make healthy choices in and outside of the household. Although it is difficult to establish a direct causal relationship between participation and health outcomes because of the added effects of the program on reducing poverty and improving socioeconomic status, data show that participants are able to make more deliberate choices that maximize the nutrition content of their food. In fact, despite rising obesity rates throughout the country for the population overall, women who
participated in the Food Stamp Program from 1999 to 2002 were less likely to be overweight and
were able to keep their weight relatively steady compared to nonparticipants.18

Document sampled from the House Committee on Agriculture website.

For more information on Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs visit: www.fns.usda.gov

Mexico’s NAFTA Generation Faces Morbid Obesity

MERIDA, Mexico -– In less than a generation, Mexicans have gone from a nation of relatively healthy people to a nation confronting an unprecedented health crisis: morbid obesity. The culprit? The NAFTA diet. Before the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, in 1994, Mexicans had a wholesome diet consisting of beans, tortillas, chicken and fruits and vegetables. These were prepared at home or in small restaurants called “fondas” (market stalls) by street vendors. Almost always, these meals were “slow food” -– soups, tacos, sauces and regional dishes were made from fresh ingredients, and prepared over the course of several hours. In the 15 years since NAFTA, however, Mexico has been “invaded” by globalized, highly processed foods served by such fast-food conglomerates as McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.

The health crisis confronting Mexico is the rapid escalation in morbid obesity throughout society, affecting every demographic group in the nation, even the poorest. A survey by Mexico’s health ministry revealed that one in four Mexican children between the ages of five and 11 is morbidly obese. In a recent study, “Obesity: The Epidemic of the 21st Century,” health researcher Federico Siguero argues that “obesity is the most frequent illness among (Mexican) children, followed by diabetes. “If this trend continues, there will be no government (administration) that will have the resources to treat all of the obese (Mexicans), who will suffer from diabetes, hypertension or another complication,” he stated. This is reaffirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO), which now labels Mexico the nation with the second highest incidence of morbid obesity in the world, behind the United States. “Risk factors such as being overweight and obesity have increased (in Mexico) in all groups of society, mainly in urban areas, affecting 51.8 percent of women between the ages of 12 and 49 (60 percent in the northern part of the country) and 5.5 percent of children under five,” the WHO reported in its current country profile for Mexico.

The public health crisis precipitated by the change in the Mexican diet is causing alarm among politicians. Mexico is confronting an unprecedented strain on its national health system.  According to the WHO, 67.9 percent of Mexican men and 68.4 percent of Mexican women are overweight.  By comparison, 72.6 percent of American men and 75.6 percent of American women are overweight.

“In many rural communities,” Salazar added, “the government does not provide potable drinking water in the schools, and as a result, children end up drinking soft drinks instead.” Mexicans drink more soft drinks per capita than any other people in the world, except for Americans. “We must reduce the number of soft drinks consumed by children and at-risk adults,” added Jorge Quintero Bello, a legislator from the conservative PAN party. “IMSS (Mexico’s Health Ministry) must launch a comprehensive public education campaign.”

The change in the Mexican diet, however, is only one part of a complicated equation. In the course of implementing NAFTA, Mexico has sought greater coordination with both the United States and Canada. This has meant, among other things, aligning Mexican hours to the U.S. daylight and saving time changes, which, for a nation that lies closer to the equator, means more hours in school and at work. More importantly, Mexico, after a heated debate, officially abolished the siesta -– the traditional midday closing of businesses for three or four hours to allow people to go home and share meals with their families. As a consequence, working “9 to 5” means that home-prepared meals are for the majority of Mexicans a thing of the past, and the “super-sized” fast-food alternative is just around the corner.

Louis Nevaer is a contributor to NAM whose new book, “Managing Hispanic and Latino Employees,” will be published in December 2009.

To read the whole article click here.

Source: New America Media

Author: Louis E.V. Nevaer

Immigrants Kids Even Less Active Than U.S.-Born

Many immigrant children get even less vigorous exercise than their U.S.-born counterparts, the largest study of its kind suggests. Plenty of earlier evidence shows that U.S. children are pretty inactive. The new study of nearly 70,000 children simply found even lower levels of activity among immigrants.

Almost 18 percent of foreign-born children with immigrant parents got no vigorous exercise on any days of the week, and 56 percent didn’t participate in organized sports.

By contrast, 11 percent of U.S.-born children with American parents got no vigorous exercise, and 41 percent didn’t participate in sports.

Given the obesity epidemic and immigrants accounting for about 13 percent of the U.S. population, the authors said it is important to know whether there are ethnic differences in physical activity and sedentary behaviors. They were led by Dr. Gopal Singh, a researcher at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

Here’s how the researchers explain their results: Immigrant families surveyed were on the whole poorer than nonimmigrants and lived in less safe neighborhoods. That means they likely had less time for exercise and sports, and worse access to places to engage in those activities.

But also, many immigrant parents place a high emphasis on reading, language lessons, studying and other inactive pursuits.

The study appears in Monday’s Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. It is based on 2003-04 telephone interviews with parents of children aged 6 to 17, including white, black, Hispanic and Asian immigrants.

Singh said the results among Hispanics were particularly striking: nearly 23 percent of children in families where both parents were born in Spanish-speaking countries got no vigorous physical activity. Also, two-thirds of them didn’t participate in organized sports.

Dr. Mita Sanghavi Goel of Northwestern University said the results in Hispanics are troubling because of high rates of obesity and diabetes — both related to inactivity — among Hispanics, the nation’s largest immigrant group.

“That just highlights how important it is to intervene early and set healthy lifestyle patterns early on,” Goel said.

Rates for others who got no vigorous activity were 13 percent for blacks, almost 10 percent for whites and 7 percent for Asians. For no participation in sports, the rates were 49 percent for blacks, 38 percent for Asians and 32 percent for whites.

Newer government advice recommends an hour of moderate-to-vigorous exercise most days. Just last month, a study found that fewer than a third of U.S. 15-year-olds got even that minimum amount.

To read more click here. 

Author:  Lindsay Tanner

Source: AP

Low-Carbohydrate Diets Recommended for Hispanics

DALLAS, TX. (ConCienciaNews) – Dr. Jeffrey Browning decided to carry out a study on how to prevent fatty liver disease, after noticing that the majority of Hispanic women encountered while he was working at the Dallas Public Hospital, suffered from the disease.

A fatty liver is not only the result of alcohol consumption, but may be caused by obesity and is often aggravated by diabetes.  It is the second most frequent chronic hepatic disease diagnosed in outpatients.

Browning began to research ways to prevent fatty liver disease, which affects more and more obese young people each day. He found that those with fatty liver should concentrate on low-carbohydrates diets instead of low-calorie ones.

“Instead of looking for drugs to fight obesity and the diseases it brings, maybe the optimization of diet not only helps manage and treat this disease, but also to prevent it,” Browning said.

Although this study was not initially meant to determine which type of diet was most recommended for weight loss, on average subjects who monitored calorie consumption lost five pounds after two weeks, while subjects who monitoring carbohydrate intake lost an average of nine and a half pounds.

Glucose, a form of sugar and fat, is an energy source metabolized by the liver using the body’s energy.

“We saw a drastic change in how the liver produced glucose, depending on the diet,” Browning said.

The greatest finding in the study, which included the participation of 14 obese people, was that in the low-carbohydrate diets, more glucose was produced than in the low-calorie diet.

According to Browning, this is one way that the liver produces glucose under certain types of diets, thus regulating metabolic disorders and preventing fatty liver disease.  For example, people on low-calorie diets received 40% of their glucose from glycogen, which results from carbohydrate consumption and is stored in the liver while the body has a need for it.

Those on the low-carbohydrate diet obtained only 20% of their glucose from glycogen. Instead of looking in the glycogen reserves, this suggests that the fat stored in the liver is burned off to obtain energy.

Fatty liver disease is on the rise and is believed to affect at least one of every three adults in the United States. This condition is associated with metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance, diabetes, obesity, and consequences may include liver inflammation, cirrhosis or liver cancer.

“The energy produced is important to the liver,” Browing said. “This proves that the liver must burn off excess fat to meet the energy needs of people with a low-carbohydrate diet.”

For more information visit:  www.conciencianews.com